October 3, 2010

Finally having embraced the OS-tan movement after many years, Microsoft brings you Nanami Madobe (Oh yes, she Tweets.) with the voice of Nana Mizuki (Nyamo Namo of Love Hina). If only the US commercials could have been as interesting…

July 31, 2009

Former dolphin trainer, Ric O’Barry, from the ’60s TV series Flipper has filmed a new documentary titled The Cove revealing a secret cove in Japan where fisherman kill 23,000 dolphins and porpoises each year.

They battle Japanese police and fisherman to gain access to a cove in Taiji, Japan, where barbed wire blocks people from filming dolphin killings that begin in September each year.

The documentary opens in the United States on Friday but has yet to receive distribution in Japan, where O’Barry says 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are legally killed each year.

The Japanese government said it has done nothing wrong and cites cultural differences in response to the film.

Dolphin meat is eaten by a very small percentage of Japanese people.

…

“The film is about leading an ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ kind of team into this secret cove to try to reveal its dark secrets,” said Psihoyos, referring to the popular Hollywood film about a top notch team who break into impossible places. “It was extremely scary.”

But it largely examines environmental issues, including Japan’s efforts to persuade the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to lift a ban on commercial whaling introduced in 1986. The ban does not apply to smaller cetaceans including dolphins.

It argues that toxic waste dumped into the ocean has caused higher levels of mercury poisoning found in larger species of ocean life, including dolphins.

A spokeswoman for the Japanese embassy in Washington, Izumi Yamanaka, said in an e-mail the area surrounding Taiji had traditional dietary habits of eating dolphin meat and that Japan adhered to IWC rules.

“The Japanese government believes that it is most important to recognize national and cultural differences,” she said.

South Korea has put cloned dogs on patrol to sniff out drugs at customs. Six genetic duplicates of a single Labrador retriever have been working at the country’s main Incheon international airport and three other customs checkpoints to deter drug smuggling after completing 16 months of training, the Korea Customs Service said in a statement Sunday.

They are part of a litter of seven born in 2007 through cloning a skilled drug-sniffing canine in active service. They were all named “Toppy” — a combination of the words “tomorrow” and “puppy” — but one dropped out of training due to an injury.

The cloning work was conducted by a team of Seoul National University scientists who in 2005 successfully created the world’s first known dog clone, an Afghan hound named Snuppy.

Leading the team was Prof. Lee Byeong-chun, who was a key aide to disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk, whose purported breakthroughs in stem cell research were revealed as false.

But independent tests later proved the team’s dog cloning was genuine.

The agency has said using clones could help reduce costs due to the difficulties in finding dogs who are up to snuff for the critical task of sniffing out contraband. Only about three out every 10 naturally born dogs it trains end up qualifying for the job.

“This legislation works to ensure that our society recognizes the dignity and sacredness of human life,” said Brownback. “Creating human-animal hybrids, which permanently alter the genetic makeup of an organism, will challenge the very definition of what it means to be human and is a violation of human dignity and a grave injustice.”

The Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act would ban the creation of human-animal hybrids. Human-animal hybrids are defined as those part-human, part-animal creatures, which are created in laboratories, and blur the line between species. The bill is modest in scope and only affects efforts to blur the genetic lines between animals and humans. It does not preclude the use of animals or humans in legitimate research or health care where genetic material is not passed on to future generations, such as the use of a porcine heart valve in a human patient or the use of a lab rat with human diseases to develop treatments.

Brownback continued, “This legislation is both philosophical and practical as it has a direct bearing upon the very essence of what it means to be human, and it draws a bright line with respect to how far we can go in attempting to create new creatures made with genes from both humans and animals.

July 9, 2009

Almost three-quarters of South Korean male office workers feel uncomfortable when female colleagues show too much leg or cleavage in the workplace, a survey has revealed.

A poll of 1,254 employees by the job portal site CareerNet found that 74 percent of men felt upset with the attire of their female co-workers.

Some 56 percent of them cited micro-miniskirts as their chief complaint, while 51 percent objected to excessive cleavage.

Low-rise trousers that reveal women’s underwear, “killer heels” and flashy outfits in general were also cause for complaint.

Women meanwhile complained mostly of stains on the shirts and ties of their male colleagues.

Both sexes disapproved of colourful underwear under a white top, slippers or sandals and sleeveless clothes.

South Koreans in general still dress conservatively in the workplace, with an emphasis on suits and ties among men.

I thank god every day that I live in America where dressing consevatively has died a little more every year since the last world war. All female South Korean workers wishing to wear their “killer heels”, micro-miniskirts, and flashy outfits in general are more than welcome to apply for a job here.

June 19, 2009

In order to combat poachers who steal sea turtle eggs to sell to restaurants, the Thai Navy has set up a conservation center to protect the sea turtle eggs. I know from experience spending several summers in the Florida islands that baby sea turtles need assistance. From making sure a nest is marked so it isn’t disturbed to shining flashlights toward the water after dusk so the baby turtles can find their way across the beach, everyone volunteers their free time to protect sea turtles.

June 5, 2009

In just 5 hours NTT sold 20,000 exclusive Evangelion-themed NERV phones to a hungry public. Proving once again that anime fans will pay anything to get an Evangelion product, consumers happily forked over 90,000 yen for each Sharp SH-06A NERV phone. Design overseen by Hideaki Anno and Studio Khara, the Evangelion 2.0 related phones will pop up on the silverscreen in Japan while retail waits for 10,000 more to be ready to hit the market in July. I think it might be time to start rooting for the Angels if this continues.